1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveyer apparatus for a plurality of individual articles, having a means for spatially separating of the articles to be conveyed along a conveying path of the conveyer apparatus. Such conveyer apparatuses are used predominantly to feed single articles, such as, for example, packages containing foodstuff, individually to a processing or testing apparatus, for example, to individual operating stations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Earlier conveyer apparatuses have been used predominantly to feed bottles containing a filled in ware to a leakage testing apparatus. Such articles, for example, bottles have precise outer diameters and are generally not deformable. Because these articles arrive at the conveying path in a state closely following each other closely, an apparatus for a spatially separating (separator) of the articles must be foreseen because the articles must be conveyed to processing stations which are arranged at predetermined distances from each other (for example, a revolving processing apparatus). The apparatus for spatially separating the articles has been a screw conveyer having a pitch which increases in the direction of transport and which engages the articles laterally and separates the articles from each other.
It now has been recognized that such an apparatus for spatially separating articles, specifically packages made of a soft plastic material and similar is not suitable because the outer shape of such packages does generally not feature the necessary stability.